1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electronic and electro-optic devices, and more particularly to the fabrication of anisometric metal needles for a birefringent suspension in a dielectric fluid.
2. Description of the Related Art
Devices for beam steering, beam focusing, waveguiding, and phase shifting are essential components of radar and communications systems.
Ferrites and diode arrays are generally used as phase shifters in microwave radar systems, as described in a textbook entitled "RADAR HANDBOOK, 2nd Edition", by M. Skolnik, ed., Mc-Graw Hill Publishing Co., 1990, pp. 7.63-7.67. These devices work well for narrow, tuned spectral bands, but not for the wide bands desired for frequency-agile systems. The phase shift of ferrites is sensitive to operating temperatures. The high power consumption of diodes prohibits their use for high power microwave antennas. These existing types of phase shifters are also expensive, which is a major concern in an application such as a phased array radar system in which thousands of phase shifters may be required.
Beam steering devices for the infrared region generally include liquid crystals as birefringent elements, but these are relatively slow for advanced electro-optic applications.